84 A.D. 268 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1903
This is approbate proceeding whereby the proponent, the sole executor named in the last will and testament of Jnlia A. Anderson, late of the county of New York, asks to probate her will and codicils thereto, which were executed at Salt Lake City, in the State of Utah, where she died on the lltli day of October, 1902. The husband of the decedent interposed an answer objecting to the probate of the instrument on various grounds, whereupon the proponent was granted by the surrogate a commission to take the testimony of the subscribing witnesses at Salt Lake City, in the State of Utah, upon interrogatories annexed to the commission. Before the commission was sent the contestant applied to the Surrogate’s Court for an order directing two open commissions, one directed to Salt Lake City, and one to Colorado Springs, to examine witnesses who might be produced by either party on or before a day specified, upon oral questions to be put to the witnesses. This application was made upon the affidavit of the contestant (husband of the decedent) which alleged that the contestant is a beneficiary under the will offered for probate to the extent of $2,000 only; that The decedent left personal estate to the amount of at least $25,000; that the will was procured by undue influence; that the decedent had not testamentary capacity; that under the laws of the State of Colorado, where it is alleged the decedent was a resident, a married woman cannot bequeath away from her husband more than one-half of her property ; that in June, 1900, the decedent was adjudicated an habitual drunkard, and a committee of her person and property was appointed, which commission was in force up to the time of her death ; that the decedent moved to Colorado in 1901, and was married to the contestant in
Patteeson, O’Bkien, McLaughlin and Hatch, JJ., concurred.
Order modified as directed in opinion, and as modified affirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements to the respondent to abide the final event.